Reprise have just arrived in UK for a couple of months to visit friends and family and do a few shows in various pubs and I’m delighted to say they offered to come and do a gig for EDP in our local, recently opened, craft brewery, the brainchild of ex USAF Fighter pilot Tim Hartigan and his cross-country running pal, Bob. 

The venue is at the brewery site, which is a converted Barn on a farm, near Amport , the next village along from Abbotts Ann . It’s called ‘Breach Farm Brewery’ and as the poster mentions is now at Haydown Farm which is in fact located between Amport and East Cholterton , off Wiremead Lane, SP11 8LR about 4.5 miles from Andover.

The Gig will be on the Friday 27th to avoid a clash with the Rugby World Cup Final the next day. 

The concert will support the EDP Charity and we’re hoping to promote Child Sponsorship opportunities. 

You can sign up on the website to become a sponsor for a monthly contribution of £25 (£300 per annum) –  via Just Giving.  Each sponsor will be allocated one of our current students who will write to you via EDP UK at least twice a year,  with an update on their progress at the school.

We now have just under 80 students sponsored and with a population of 520 this year we still have some way to go! As an indication of the expenses involved in running the school, each student costs around £300 a year to finance in terms of the infrastructure and overheads; this excludes the general cost of staffing as the majority of the teachers and ancillary staff are financed by the Government, as part of our joint venture. This means we have to find around  £150,000 each year just to keep the school going. This excludes the swimming pool project which is funded by the Princess of Monaco Foundation (over 7,000 kids taught to swim so far!).

In addition to these running costs, over the past 12 years we have raised capital sums of over £1.5 million to fund the development of the infrastructure. Thankfully this is now mainly complete, although there are some ongoing projects – such as the construction  of the Arts and Music Depts;  also the less glamorous reconstruction of the boys’ WC block!

So as you can see, if we could get the number of sponsored students up considerably to around 400, with the add-on of Gift Aid of around 25%, we should then be able to cover the ongoing costs of the school and ensure its continuing success. If any of you are still minded to sponsor a student – or several! –  we would be very grateful for your generosity .

I know a number of you have now visited the school and it goes without staying that you are ALWAYS welcome to return. First-time visitors will be welcomed with open arms – seeing the school is believing!!

So, on behalf of the pupils of Awutu-Winton Senior High School a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for your past – and future – support!

Kind regards

David & the EDP Team